Ep 398: Building A $2.5B AUM Advisory Enterprise Under The Umbrella Of A National CPA Firm With Eric Wulff
Release Date: 08/13/2024
Ep 416: Avoiding The Compliance Headaches When Going RIA By Choosing A ‘Supported Independence’ Corporate RIA Platform with Fran Toler
Financial Advisor Success
Fran Toler is the CEO of Toler Financial Group, a DBA firm under the RIA Rossby Financial, that oversees nearly $200 million in assets under management for 280 households. Fran discusses how she transitioned from an independent broker-dealer model to a 'supported independence' corporate RIA platform to reduce her compliance burdens while paying lower platform fees by partnering with a service provider that doesn't charge for functions her staff already performs. This strategic move enables her to have greater autonomy without the full list of compliance responsibilities associated with...
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Ep 415: Systematizing A Firm-Wide Planning Process By Leveraging Centralized Teams And A Ticketing Workflow System with Erika Wood
Financial Advisor Success
Erika Wood is the Director of Wealth Management of VisionPoint Advisory Group, a hybrid advisory firm based in Dallas that oversees approximately $3 billion in assets under advisement for both 780 client households and retirement plans. Erika’s firm stands out for its use of centralized financial planning and service teams, along with a ticketing workflow system, to streamline a firm-wide planning process, efficiently serving a private wealth client base with $600M in assets under management. Listen in as Erika shares how her firm streamlines client meetings and task completion, ensuring...
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Ep 414: Narrowing Down The Focus To Byte-Sized Planning For Tech Employees To 10X To $50M AUM In Just 3 Years with Eric Franklin
Financial Advisor Success
Eric Franklin is the Managing Partner of Prospero Wealth, an RIA based out of Seattle that oversees $52 million in assets under management for 80 households. Eric uniquely grew his assets under management to $50 million in just three years by targeting employees at big tech firms and adapting his planning process into smaller, manageable segments. This approach, which spreads out financial planning over time, proved more valuable for his busy clients, preventing them from feeling overwhelmed. Listen in as Eric shares how he enhances client engagement by focusing on a few planning priorities at...
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Ep 413: Building An Internal Advisor Training Program To Solve The Talent Pipeline As A Growing $4B Advisory Firm with Kevin Leahy
Financial Advisor Success
Kevin Leahy is the CEO of Connecticut Wealth Management, an RIA based out of Connecticut that oversees approximately $4 billion in assets under management for 1,100 households. Kevin's firm stands out for its systematized training program designed to onboard and develop young talent straight out of college, effectively maintaining a robust advisory talent pipeline. This approach has supported the firm through organic growth and strategic acquisitions, ensuring a smooth transition of clients from retiring advisors to new ones, all while keeping a low client-to-advisor ratio of 35-to-1. Listen...
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Ep 412: 3X’ing The Business With No More Than 50 Great Clients By Hyperfocusing On Who You Can Add The Most Value For with Anjali Jariwala
Financial Advisor Success
Anjali Jariwala is the Founder of FIT Advisors, a California-based RIA that operates virtually nationwide, managing $65 million in assets for 45 client households. Over the past six years, Anjali has tripled her annual revenue from $250,000 to $750,000 while only adding a net of 10 client households by focusing on physicians with complex tax needs and small business owners with revenues of $5M-$20M. She achieved this growth by enhancing her service offerings with advanced financial planning and CFO services, while raising her fees to reflect the increased value. Listen in as Anjali shares how...
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Ep 411: Getting Clients Comfortable With Market Risk Using A More (Options-Based) Measured Risk Approach with Larry Kriesmer
Financial Advisor Success
Larry Kriesmer is the Chairman of Measured Risk Portfolios, an RIA based out of San Diego that oversees $350 million in assets under management for a combination of internal retail clients and external financial advisor clients. What's unique about Larry, though, is how he is able to get clients comfortable with taking equity market risk using an approach that actually puts 85% or more of client funds in Treasuries (effectively creating a floor on potential losses) while investing the rest into options on equity indexes to offer potential upside that still can approximate the returns of a...
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Ep 410: Delivering Financial Planning Profitably To Every Client With A Focus On Accountability Over ‘Just’ Meetings with Emily Biehler
Financial Advisor Success
Emily Biehler is the co-founder of TrailWise Financial Partners, an RIA based out of Colorado that oversees approximately $80 million in assets under management for 200 client households. What's unique about Emily, though, is how her firm ensures every client can be served profitably through a combination of a complexity-based minimum fee arrangement, coupleed with a strucutred data gathering, plan delivery, and client communication processes that encourage client accountability and follow-through on action items recommended by their advisor severy client really sees the value they receive for...
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Ep 409: Adding 1,400 New Clients in a Year as an Extension of Doing (Profitable) Student Loan Consulting at Scale with Travis Hornsby
Financial Advisor Success
Travis Hornsby is the founder of Student Loan Planner, an RIA and student loan consulting company based out of North Carolina that serves nearly 1,400 households with ongoing financial planning and has consulted with over 15,000 clients on student loan debt. Travis quickly expanded his financial planning client base to 1,400 in just over a year by leveraging his extensive pool of student loan consulting clients, which had significantly grown over the past decade. Listen in as Travis shares how he carved out a niche in student loan planning, which laid the groundwork for transitioning into...
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Ep 408: Merging Into A Mid-Sized Firm To Grow Something Together (And Have A Real Piece Of It) with Maddi Keegan
Financial Advisor Success
Maddi Keegan is a financial advisor and the Director of Operations at Frazier Financial Advisors, an RIA based out of Ohio that oversees $860 million in assets under management for 650 client households. After building a successful solo advisory firm, Maddi merged her business with Frazier Financial Advisors, where she secured a stake and stepped into both advisory and operational roles to help scale the business. Listen in as Maddi shares how her strategic merger with Frazier Financial Advisors allowed her to expand her impact, blending her expertise with the firm's resources to enhance...
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Ep 407: Building Retirement Portfolios With A Liability-Driven-Investing Approach To Manage Sequence Of Return Risk with Mark Asaro
Financial Advisor Success
Mark Asaro is the Chief Investment Officer of Noble Wealth Management, an RIA based out of Colorado that oversees $320 million in assets under management for 160 households. Mark stands out with his liability-driven investing approach, which builds retirement portfolios focused on managing sequence of return risk, leveraging the use of closed-end bond funds to generate income to cover client expenses during the critical early retirement years. Listen in as Mark shares how Liability-Driven Investing (LDI) matches retirement portfolios to client spending needs, securing early retirement finances...
info_outlineEric Wulff is the CEO of Marcum Wealth, an RIA based out of Cleveland that oversees $2.5 billion in assets under management for approximately 2,700 households. Eric has uniquely developed Marcum Wealth into a multi-billion-dollar firm under the umbrella of a national accounting firm, largely by fostering mutually beneficial relationships with internal CPAs to secure referrals of their accounting clients to his financial planning business. This strategy has effectively integrated and leveraged the firm's existing services to expand its client base and enhance its financial planning division.
Listen in as Eric shares his strategic approach to generating internal referrals at his firm, using a "give to get" philosophy with CPAs to ensure his advisors are top of mind for financial planning referrals, especially through exit planning services that help maintain CPA-client relationships beyond traditional business needs. He also explains how his firm standardizes financial planning across national offices through a centralized team, the effectiveness of presenting detailed financial plans to prospects before they commit, and his targeted acquisition strategy focusing on growth-minded mid-career advisors.
For show notes and more visit: https://www.kitces.com/398
Headers:
What Marcum Wealth Looks Like Today [6:35]
Using A Team-Based Approach To Building Financial Plans [16:10]
Linking Marcum Wealth's Planning Process To Its Asset Allocation Frameworks [28:44]
Converting Prospects Into Clients Through The Plan Delivery Process [33:06]
How Marcum Wealth Generates Referrals From Its Attached CPA Firm [46:10]
Dividing Advisory Teams By Geography And Client Segments [57:43]
Marcum Wealth's Strategic Approach To Acquisitions [1:04:21]
What Surprised Eric The Most Building An Advisory Business [1:15:40]
The Low Point On Eric's Journey [1:17:34]
What Eric Would Tell His Younger Self [1:22:58]
Eric's Advice For Younger Advisors [1:24:15]
What Success Means To Eric [1:27:25]
The following contains the thoughts and opinions of Eric Wulff, CEO, of Marcum Wealth, LLC. Marcum Wealth is an investment adviser registered with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. The statements herein are intended as brand and general educational and informational content only, and no viewer should construe any statements as an offer of Marcum Wealth’s advisory services. Viewers are encouraged to discuss the content of this broadcast with, and direct any questions to, the financial professional of their choosing.